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to any of the clubs or organisers of the events featured. Words and Pictures
by Michael unless attributed otherwise. Michael is a proud member of the MCC,
ACTC, Dellow Register and Falcon amongst others, but does not represent their
views nor the views of any other organisers or clubs.

Few Strike Gold on Dry
Trial

The dry
weather took away the stopper status from sections like Rodney's Revenge
and Cutliffe Lane. Elsewhere a tough restart on Bishops Wood reduced the
medal count and there was controversy about the condition of Darracott and
Blue Hills Two.

Mark Delves reported his trial on Twitter on his
way to a Class 0 Award in his MR2 (Pictured on Barton Steep by Dave
Cook)

Adrian Tucker-Peake on Darracott in Clive Kalber's very special
Ford Pop that Adrian and his father built in the 70's (Picture
by Dave Cook)

Harry Butcher negotiating the step at the start
of a very rough Blue Hills 2 on his way to a Silver Medal
(Picture by Dave Cook)

It looks as if Chris Libby needs his spill kit as he retires his
Mazda MX5 on Blue Hills 2 (Source
of picture unknown)

It was a dry when the routes converged at
Bridgewater after the regularity test on the night run.The conditions meant that neither Felons Oak or Beggars
Roost were too demanding this year. There was no restart on Beggars again
but there was a chicane created with tape. Interestingly there was no
mention of any penalties to be applied regarding this tape.

Busy at Barbrook

After battling with thick fog
over the moors came a new innovation. There was a control at the village hall opposite the
petrol station in Barbrook, just before Beggars. Competitors were
supposed to wait a few miles up the road at an unmanned holding control so
they didn't arrive to early. Very few, if any, did and the area became
congested with cars and people as the signing in desk struggled to cope
with the rush. Fortunately next years Clerk of the Course was on hand and
plans to organise things differently for next year.

Dry Sections

The fog had
cleared by Simonsbath and Rodneys Revenge awaited, a stony track high in
the forest complex. It was dry this year and was not the usual stopper for
those who didn't have to restart. Class 8 did have to stop though and this
wasn't so easy, catching out the experienced Tris Whit in his Troll
amongst others. Neil Bray cleaned the section in his Rover V8 powered
Skoda but retired on the exit track and narrowly escaped getting locked in
the forest when the marshals didn't notice he was still there when they
went home.

Neither Cutliffe Lane or
Sutcombe were problems for the more experienced triallers.

Darracott was Rough

Although
there weren't too many failures many thought Darracott was very rough this
year. It appeared that water had washed the section away before the
concrete slabs creating steps that proved a problem for some cars that
weren't really trials prepared.

The usual doctoring of
Crackington took its toll, mainly for cars in the lower classes, and for
Class Eight who had a restart in the goo. This proved a problem for one or
two stalwarts including Eric Wall (Dellow Mk 1) and Brian Partridge (Ridge
Cannon). Nick Farmer was another Class Eight to fail, when his draft shaft
snapped. Fortunately he managed to obtain another one and continued to
gain silver.

Tough Restart at
Warleggan

While 1 -5
had a straight run through 6 - 8 had a very rocky restart to contend with
and very few managed to get away. Dean Vowden was unfortunate to have the
bolt securing the rear radius arm on his VW Notchback come adrift and had
to retire with the resulting damage.

The restarts on Hoskin were to
be problematical as well, destroying the medal aspirations of much of the
field. There was some debate about the initial results from the Class 7&8
restart and there were some changes to the results that were first
published.

Burning Rubber at
Bishopswood

Drivers in the lower classes
may have been feeling complacent without all the restarts but Bishopswood
was to change that. Hardly a classic hill its all about the slopes up too
and after the cross track. 7 & 8 had their usual attempt on the cobbles
while the lower classes, including 1 & 2 had theirs on the un-surfaced
lower slope. Only a handful of competitors got away from this and Ian
Cundy (VW Golf) and Stuart Roach (HRG) were in this very select group.

Vandals at Blue Hills

Love it or
hate it the MCC regards Blue Hills 2 as its showcase section. So the
organisers were not pleased to find trenches dug across the section when
they arrived on Saturday morning. The decision was made to allow the
section to run but it was bad enough not to allow the chairs in Class D to
have a go, which didn't go down well at the time.

Class 0 had
the option to attempt BH2 and many of them did, although some of the lower
slung sports cars may have regretted their decision!

Despite the problems this
years Lands End seemed to go down well with most of the competitors. It
was the swansong for the team led by Roger Ugalde for the last decade and
they can look back at some very successful events.